TEHRAN (Iran News) – The coronavirus pandemic transformed daily life around the globe with breathtaking swiftness on Friday, overwhelming hospitals, closing schools and offices and halting world sports.

In China, where new infections have tailed off, authorities mobilized to prevent a boomerang effect, quarantining new arrivals for 14 days. But the intensifying spread of COVID-19 beyond Asia dashed any hopes for containing the virus, despite drastic curbs on travel and social events, AP reported.

Tens of millions of students – from preschoolers to doctoral candidates – stayed home in Europe, Asia, and the Mideast, and the roles of political leaders infected or under quarantine swelled. People fretted over how to reduce the risks to elderly relatives – the group facing the most dire health consequences – even as the virus threatened their jobs and slashed their retirement savings.

In Europe and the United States, leaders and medical experts tried to predict the future – or at least the next few weeks – by scrutinizing the virus’s trajectory so far, especially in China and Italy, the epicenters of Asia and Europe.

Unstable markets

Markets swung Friday as governments considered how to cushion the economic blow, with European shares rebounding and Asia falling a day after US stocks saw their biggest losses since the Black Monday crash of 1987. Congress and the Trump administration closed in on a sweeping aid package with sick pay, free testing and other resources to help reassure anxious Americans.

The Italian town of Codogno, which had all but shut down hours after recording Italy’s first coronavirus infection, showed that changing habits do make a difference. New infections have slowed drastically there compared to the rest of Italy, where draconian measures came far later.

The goal of all authorities is to slow the spread of the virus to avoid overwhelming hospitals with those sickened by an illness that no one in the world has immunity to. Worldwide, 135,000 people have been infected and nearly 5,000 have died but half of those who had the virus have already recovered. Most patients have only mild or moderate symptoms such as a fever or cold, but severe symptoms including pneumonia can occur, especially in the elderly and people with existing health problems.

Spain put 60,000 people in four towns on a mandatory lockdown Friday – the nation’s first – echoing the actions in Italy. And in Madrid, which has nearly 2,000 infections, the government announced it would pool intensive care units and consider offers by hotel chains to transform rooms into sick wards.

Europe slams Trump’s decision

While Washington scrambled to shape an economic rescue package, the European Union pushed back against President Donald Trump’s sharp restrictions on travel from Europe, slamming Trump’s “unilateral” decision and declaring the virus a “global crisis, not limited to any continent.”

Trump defended his decision to not notify all EU leaders ahead of the announcement. “When they raise taxes on us, they don’t consult us,” Trump said.

A spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry suggested on Thursday the US military might have brought the coronavirus to the Chinese city of Wuhan, doubling down on a war of words with Washington.

China has taken great offense at comments by US officials accusing it of being slow to react to the virus, first detected in Wuhan late last year, and of not being insufficiently transparent, according to Reuters.

On Wednesday, US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said the speed of China’s reaction to the emergence of the coronavirus had probably cost the world two months when it could have been preparing for the outbreak.

In a strongly-worded tweet, written in English on his verified Twitter account, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said it was the United States that lacked transparency.

“When did patient zero begin in the US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be the US army that brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!” Zhao wrote.

China returning to normal

Chinese President Xi Jinping told the UN leader his nation was returning to normal and now wants to conduct joint research on drugs and vaccines and offer “as much assistance as it can” to countries in need. A Chinese medical crew arrived in Italy and surplus supplies were sent to Iran.

In South Korea, which had nearly 8,000 cases overall, Friday marked the first day recoveries outnumbered new infections since the country’s first patient was confirmed Jan. 20.

The pandemic’s new epicenter is Europe. Italy’s death toll topped 1,000 on Thursday with more than 15,000 confirmed cases. France, Spain, and Germany all exceeded 2,000 cases each.

In Italy’s hardest-hit Lombardy region, hospitals were overflowing with both the sick and the dead. The country’s restaurants, cafes and retail shops closed. Grocery stores, pharmacies, and markets were allowed to operate, with orderly lines of evenly spaced customers forming outside to avoid crowds inside.

In Iran, which exceeds 11,000 cases and 500 deaths, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif urged the Trump administration to immediately lift sanctions over the country’s nuclear program.

Infected political figures

The virus was getting closer to the halls of power in many countries.

Iran’s state-run TV reported a positive test and home quarantine for Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Iran’s senior vice president, cabinet ministers, members of parliament and Health Ministry officials are also infected.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was isolating himself after his wife tested positive. The Australian home affairs minister was hospitalized in isolation after testing positive. He returned to Australia on Sunday from Washington, D.C., where he met US Attorney-General William Barr and Trump’s daughter, Ivanka.

Despite meeting at Mar-a-Lago with a top Brazilian official who tested positive, the US president has no immediate plans to be tested or to self-quarantine.

Trump did, however, halt his trademark political rallies, following the lead of Democratic rivals Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.

Across the US, where cases have topped 1,700, a sense of urgency was pervasive. Professional athletes and entertainers were among those infected.

Schools emptied of students and workplace cubicles went vacant. Crowded gatherings were restricted from New York to California. Disneyland and Disney World will close in the coming days. And sports fans can even cheer their favorite teams from the safety of their living rooms since professional basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, and other leagues canceled and postponed games.

Yet decisions still loomed for the biggest athletic competition of them all – the 2020 Summer Olympics – which was still firmly on the calendar. The International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo organizing committee were not considering canceling or delaying the games, “absolutely not at all,” said Japan Olympics minister Seiko Hashimoto.